RAINA RESCUES CSK
The left-hander slams fifty as Chennai post 176 against RR
Jaipur, May 11: Suresh Raina struck his 34th halfcentury in IPL as Chennai Super Kings posted a competitive 176 for 4 against Rajasthan Royals, here on Friday.
In reply, hosts Rajasthan were 88 for 2 from 10 overs, needing another 89 off 60 balls, when this edition went for print.
CSK’s most consistent performer over the years, Raina struck 52 off 35 balls with the help of six boundaries and a six, adding 86 runs for the second wicket with veteran Shane Watson (39 off 31 balls).
The duo provided the platform for skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to launch a final assault smashing 33 off 23 balls in company of Sam Billings (27 off 22 balls). The duo added 55 runs in 6.4 overs to take the team’s total past 175-run mark.
For Royals, Jofra Archer (2/42 in 4 overs) was the most successful bowler even though he got hit towards the end. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi (1/29 in 4 overs) was the most impressive as he got Raina with a googly which the southpaw tried to slog sweep against the turn.
CSK’s top run-getter Ambati Rayudu (12) started off with a couple of boundaries before being played on to a delivery that was kicking up from back of the length. However Raina batted in his inimitable style along with Watson as they scored runs at a comfortable pace.
Raina started by clipping Archer off his pads to the square leg boundary. In the same over, he got his second boundary with a square drive. In the next over, he got a couple of more boundaries with a cut and a cover drive off Krishnappa Gowtham.
The fifth boundary was a short arm pull over midwicket off Ben Stokes. With Powerplay overs yielding 55 runs, there was a period when CSK did’t get a boundary for 21 balls before Ish Sodhi’s over (ninth of the innings) helped the duo break shackles.
Watson pulled a Sodhi half-tracker over deep midwicket for a six while Raina slog swept the bowler for same result in that particular over, which fetched 16 runs. Watson, who didn’t play too many big strokes got into the groove to hit the out-ofform Jaydev Unadkat (0/34 in 4 overs) for a six over deep mid-wicket.
Watson was finally taken by Archer, as the right-hander’s attempted pull-shot went high up in the air before Jos Buttler caught it.